Method of purifying water controlled by laser scanning

ABSTRACT

A system and method is disclosed for purifying water for drinking or bathing purposes employing an optical scanning device for detecting organisms in the water such as bacteria, algae, or viruses. The optical scanning device may be a video camera or may comprise a laser for irradiating the organisms and a photodetector for detecting radiation emanating from the organisms. A computer analyzes scanning signals generated by the scanning device and controls a device for neutralizing the organisms, such as a chemical injector or radiation source, in accordance with the scanning signals. The system may also be used to detect and neutralize disease producing organisms in a body fluid of a patient or in any fluid used for biological experimentation, testing, or production.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a system and method for purifying water, suchas drinking water and pool water, by controllably killing or otherwiseneutralizing bacteria, viruses, as well as other microorganisms ororganic matter therein under the control of a computer. In a preferredembodiment, all or a sample of the water to be purified is scanned withan electro-optical scanning device, such as a laser and one or morephotoelectric detectors of reflected or fluorescent radiation fromorganic matter in the water and/or a television camera for imagingparticulates in the water. The resulting image and/or radiation signalsare computer processed and analyzed to detect the presence ofsubstrates, such as bacteria or toxic chemicals, and to quantify sameover a period of time. The information defining codes generated as aresult of such computer analysis are directly or indirectly employed toeffect automatic control of one or more devices for purifying the wateras it flows and/or while it is held in a tank. Such water purifyingdevices may comprise a computer controlled injector pump operable toeffect the flow of a select quantity of one or more chemicals into thewater and/or a radiation source such as a generator of microwaves, UVlight, laser radiation, or other radiation. Such chemical or radiationis operable to kill or otherwise render harmless organisms or othermatter present in the water. As a result of such controlled waterpurifying action, the operation is optimized with a savings in energyand/or the amount of chemicals used to purify the water. Furthermore,when a chemical agent is employed to kill bacteria, its amount isminimized to reduce the taste of such chemical as well as any othernegative effects on persons drinking or bathing in such purified water.

It is a primary object of the invention to employ electro-opticalscanning and purifying devices under control of a computer in order topurify water for drinking or bathing.

It is a further object of the invention to detect substrates such asbacteria, viruses, or other organic matter in a fluid.

It is a further object of the invention to quantify substrates such asbacteria, viruses, or other organic matter in a fluid.

It is a further object of the invention to continuously detect andquantify substrates such as bacteria, viruses, or other organic matterin a flowing liquid.

It is a further object of the invention to detect and kill or otherwiseneutralize bacteria, viruses, cancerous cell or other organic matter ina body fluid.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will becomeevident in light of the following detailed description considered inconjunction with the referenced drawings of a preferred exemplaryembodiment according to the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A through 1B show alternative configurations of a laser andphotodetector for detecting microorganisms and other matter within aduct.

FIG. 2 shows a system for analysis of data generated by electro-opticalscanning devices and operation of control elements to purify a fluid.

FIG. 3 shows a system for quantizing the amount of substrate in aflowing liquid.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In FIG. 2 is shown a system 10 for detecting disease causing elements ina liquid such as water or body fluid such as blood, quantizing same andautomatically computer controlling one or more means or subsystems forkilling or deactivating the disease causing or defining elements in theliquid. The system 10 may be utilized to purify drinking or pool waterand/or in a modified form, blood in vitro and/or in vive by killingharmful or disease defining bacteria,virus, cancer cells and the liketherein.

FIGS. 1A through 1D show different alternative arrangements of a laser Land a photodetector P for detecting substrates in a liquid containedwithin a duct D. The laser L generates a laser beam of fixed frequencyor a varying computer controlled group of frequencies or wavelengthswhich beam (or a plurality of beams from a plurality of lasers L) ispassed laterally or oblique to the longitudinal axis of a tube or duct Dthrough which the liquid is flowing. The light beam may also bedeflected to scan a plurality of paths in a select (lateral and/oroblique) plane or plurality of planes through the liquid. A transparentwindow in the duct D, transparent wall of the duct, or the like may passthe laser beam(s) to the liquid and also pass reflections thereof and/orfluorescence or spectral radiation from solids in the liquid back to thephotodetector P. The laser and photodetector may be held stationary ormay move together in a scanning movement. Alternatively, the laser L andphotodetector P may be disposed within the liquid by being mounted inthe wall of duct D. The photodetector P may be located relative to thelaser L so as to detect scattered or backscattered radiation as shown inFIGS. 1A and 1C, respectively. FIG. 1B shows a plurality ofphotodetectors arranged so as to detect scattered radiation from laser Lor emitted radiation from excited substrates within the duct D or aprotruding portion of the wall or an element supported thereby andextending ito the duct passageway. The laser or a light pipe directingsuch laser radiation L and the photodetector P may also be disposed inthe opening of a narrow hypodermic needle or at the end of a catheter Cdisposed in the tube D, blood vessel, or other body duct as shown inFIG. 1D.

A microprocessor or computer 11 controls the detection and treatmentactions by receiving and gating digital detection and control signals toand from various electrically operated devices and subsystems. Themicroprocessor 11 is shown as connected via a bidirectional data bus 26to various peripheral components including a RAM 12, a ROM 13, a diskstorage device 14, a keyboard 63, a display 62, as well as othercomponents as described below. Scanning of a fluid to detect selectelements therein, such as disease indicating or defining bacteria,viruses, fungae, or other types of select substrates is effected by oneor more imaging devices and/or spectral radiation detection devices suchas photoelectric detector 18 which may be used alone or with a pluralitythereof and one or more attendant lasers 20 to scan across a duct suchas a pipe through which water or other liquid is flowing or for scanningblood in a blood vessel. The output of detector 18 is a variableelectrical signal which is digitized by an analog to digital converter19 and passed to data bus 26 for analysis by a spectral radiationanalysis module 52. The lasers 20 may be tunable so that the wavelengthsof their emitted radiation may be program varied under control ofcomputer 11. Such computer control of the laser tuning may be inaccordance with a standard protocol or may be varied in accordance withauromatic analysis of previously generated and analyzed scanning signalsso as to permit the automatic detection of a variety of differentsubstances or entities in fluid scanned.

In a preferred embodiment, the computed digital code signals output byeither or both image analyzing and spectral radiation signal analyzingmodules or computers 50 and 52 are applied by microprocessor 11 to adecision module or computer 54 for analysis using expert systems, fuzzylogic and/or neural network techniques, where the aforementioned modulesmay be either dedicated hardware components or software programs. Theoutput of decision module 54 generates coded command signals forcontrolling the operation of one or more pump motors 29 operating pumps30 and/or solenoids 32 operating valves 35 to flow controlled amounts ofchemical and/or biological agents to the water or body fluid to kill orotherwise neutralize or affect the detected disease elements therein.

Such computer generated control signals may be applied to control theoperation of one or more radiation generators 25 for generating andapplying disease organism killing or neutralizing radiation to a selectlocation or locations of the liquid. The duration and intensity of theapplied radiation may be computer controlled in accordance with thetype(s) and density of the detected disease elements in the liquid.

Also shown in FIG. 2 is a scanning television camera 15 coupled to scanimages of an optical or electron microscope 16 scanning either theliquid in the duct or blood vessel D and/or sample(s) of such liquidautomatically removed therefrom as a flow, as individual drops, poolsthereof or thin films or smears applied by a robot applicatorpenetrating the flowing liquid. The image signal output of the TV camera15 is digitized in an A/D converter 17 and passed to bus 26 for analysisby image analyzing module 50. The TV camera 15 may be employed alone orto provide image signals together with spectral or fluorescence signalsobtained by one or more photoelectric detectors sensing spectralradiation from disease elements (cancer cells, bacteria, protozoa,viruses, etc.) in the fluid as they are intersected by exciting laserradiation applied as described.

The system described above may be used for purifying water or otherfluid by scanning samples of the water and operating purificationequipment such as chemical injectors or radiation sources in accordancewith the results of the scanning. The system may also be used to scan abody fluid of a patient (eg., blood or lymph) in order to detectorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, or cancer cells and neutralizingthe organisms so detected with radiation and/or a chemical or biologicalagent. The scanning device may be disposed within a blood vessel of thepatient by means of a catheter or hypodermic needle or samples of thepatient's body fluid may be scanned and neutralized extracorporeally.With proper miniaturization of the electronics and mechanicalcomponents, the system 10 may be carried by a person or disposed withina body implant housing to continuously scan body fluids for cancer cellsor foreign organisms, detect same, and apply laser radiation or inject adrug or other chemical agent to kill or otherwise treat same. Thechemical agent may be injected directly from the implant or from aseparate injection needle inserted into an artery or vein under controlof the onboard computer. Similarly, laser radiation may be transmittedvia a light pipe inserted into the body or produced by a laser withinthe implant.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention where the fluid tobe analyzed is passed through a conduit or duct D which may be either asection of a primary pipline transporting the fluid or a sidestreamsample from a pipeline or other fluid containing structure. Apredetermined quantity of a fluorescent-labeled substance having aspecific binding affinity for a selected substrate (such as a bacterium,viral particle, or molecule) whose presence is to be detected orquantified is then injected into the sample stream from injection nozzle112. The labled binding substance may typically be antibodies Ab, eitherin the form monclonal antibodies or labeled antiserum containing suchantibodies, which react with antigenie determinants Ag on the substrate.After mixing with the sample fluid, the antibodies form Ab-Ag complexeswith any substrate present in the fluid. An excess of antibodies is usedto ensure that all the substrate present reacts with antibody. Next, thefluid is passed through a reaction vessel 115 in which any unboundantibodies react with immobilized antigen corresponding to antigenicdeterminants present on the substrate. The reaction vessel 115 may takeany number of forms, such as a column of inert material (eg., celluloseor agarose) to which antigen is attached. The amount of immobilizedantigen presented to the fluid is such that all unbound antibodies reactwith the antigen and are thus essentially cleared from the solution.This means that the material within the reaction vessel 115 should beperiodically cleaned or changed in order to contain sufficient unreactedimmobilized antigen to clear the fluid of unbound antibodies. Afterpassing through reaction vessel 115, the fluid contains labeled Ab-Agcomplexes consisting of antibody bound to substrate particles. One typeof label which may be conjugated to the antibody is a fluorescent labelsuch as fluorescein or rhodamine which are commonly used in flowcytometry. The Ab-Ag complexes are detected by means of a laser L forexciting the fluorescent dye molecules and a photodetector P formeasuring the light scattered and/or emitted by the fluorescentmolecules. The laser is operated in a scanning fashion so that the beamintersects with a large portion of the fluid passing by. The signalproduced by the photodetector P varies in accordance with the amount ofsubstrate present in the sample fluid and is fed to the computer 11. Thecomputer is thus able to detect whether or not the substrate is presentor, by comparing the photodetector signal to standard values and takinginto account the fluid flow rate and number of antigenic sites on thesubstrate particles, identify and quantify the amount of substratepresent. The present invention thus allows the continuous monitoringand/or quantification of substrates in a flowing fluid. As describedabove, if the substrate is detected within the fluid, the computer 11may then operate a mechanism such as a chemical injector and/orradiation source to destroy or otherwise neutralize the substrate andthus purify the fluid.

The embodiment described above uses labeled antibodies which bind toantigenic determinants on the substrate particles in order to detecttheir presence. Certain substrates, however, can react with other typesof ligands which may be labeled and detected in a similar manner. Forexample, labeled protein A from staphylococcus aureus or lectins such asconconavilin A may be used to detect the presence of immunoglobulins orcarbohydrates, respectively, in the sample fluid. Labeled antibodies mayalso be used in an indirect method in which antibodies directed againstthe substrate are reacted with substrate particles as described aboveand then reacted with labeled anti-Ig antibody to allow the detectionidentification and/or quantification of the substrate.

Although the invention has been described in conjunction with theforegoing specific embodiments, many alternatives, variations, andmodifications will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.Those alternatives, variations, and modifications are intended to fallwithin the scope of the following appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for purifying water comprising the stepsof:scanning a select amount of water with a laser, irradiatingsubstrates in the water with laser radiation and generating scanningsignals containing information indicative of the presence of selectsubstrates in the water with a photodetector for detecting radiationemanating from said substrates; wherein said laser radiation iscontrollably varied during scanning to detect different biologicalsubstrates in the water; computer processing and analyzing said scanningsignals and code signals relating thereto; and employing said codesignals to control the operation of a device for neutralizing thesubstrates so detected.
 2. A method in accordance with claim 1 whereinsaid scanning step is further performed with a television camera forimaging substrates in the water.
 3. A method in accordance with claim 1wherein said scanning step is further performed with a television camerafor imaging substrates in the water and further wherein said camerascans magnified images.
 4. A method in accordance with claim 1 whereinsaid scanning step is further performed with a television camera forimaging substrates in the water and further wherein the laserilluminates the water scanned by the camera.
 5. A method in accordancewith claim 1 wherein said scanning step is performed with a televisioncamera for imaging substrates in the water and further wherein the laserscans a field scanned by the camera.
 6. A method in accordance withclaim 1 wherein said neutralizing step is performed by injecting achemical agent into the water.
 7. A method in accordance with claim 1wherein said select substrates are microorganisms and said neutralizingstep is performed by irradiating the water with lethal radiation.
 8. Amethod in accordance with claim 1 wherein said select substrates aremicroorganisms and said neutralizing step is performed by irradiatingthe water with microwave radiation.
 9. A method in accordance with claim1 further comprising the steps of using said scanning signals toquantify the amount of substrates in the water, generating a code signalindicative thereof, and performing said neutralizing step in accordancewith said quantity indicating code signal.
 10. A method in accordancewith claim 1 wherein said radiation detected by said photodetector islaser radiation scattered by said substrates.
 11. A method in accordancewith claim 1 wherein said radiation detected by said photodetector isfluorescence radiation emitted from substrates electronically excited bysaid laser radiation.
 12. A method in accordance with claim 1 whereinsaid laser radiation is controllably varied during scanning to alsodetect different chemical substrates in the water.
 13. A method inaccordance with claim 1 wherein said laser radiation is controllablyvaried in accordance with previously generated scanning signals.
 14. Amethod in accordance with claim 1 further comprising the step ofgenerating code signals corresponding to different deleted substrates.15. A method for purifying water comprising the steps of:scanning aselect amount of water with a television camera to generate imagesignals relating thereto: scanning the select amount of water with alaser; computer processing and analyzing said image signals andgenerating code signals relating thereto containing informationindicative of the presence of select substrates in the water; employingsaid code signals to control the operation of a device for neutralizingthe substrates so detected.
 16. A method in accordance with claim 15wherein said camera scans magnified images.
 17. A method in accordancewith claim 15 wherein said laser illuminates the water scanned by thecamera.
 18. A method in accordance with claim 15 wherein a laser is thedevice for neutralizing the substrates so detected.